Here With You
by carrotycake
Summary: "Am I going to see you again?" Juno Eclipse missed him more than she ever imagined. Even when she was just his pilot, things were never quite perfect. What happens when he returns from the dead? Juno x Starkiller/Galen pairing. Series of one-shots, set during, between and after both TFU games.
1. My Blood

**Author's Note**: Sadly, I don't own _Star Wars _or anything related. If I did...well, I'd be a very happy person.

This is the first in a series of short one-shots chronicling the relationship between Starkiller and Juno, which I always thought was an interesting one. In the TFU:II novelisation, Juno is having a pretty rough time getting over Starkiller, and that was a year after his 'death', so I tried to imagine what it would be like in the months between games. Reviews are always welcome...I wouldn't still be here, writing, if it weren't for you lovely people, so I hope you enjoy it!

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**My Blood**

_That feeling that doesn't go away just did  
__And I walked a thousand miles to prove it_

Juno Eclipse wiped the sweat from her forehead with a dirty cloth, glancing at her chrono as she did so. Five hours she'd been here, in an empty hangar full of Rebel ships needing repair. She hadn't noticed the time go by so quickly. This wasn't even part of her job description, but she desperately needed the distraction. She hated being alone with her own thoughts; they kept her awake at night and followed her throughout the day. Fixing the ships, repairing anything she could get her hands on, kept the thoughts away, for a short time at least. It had been just over two months since she'd lost _him_, but still her mind felt numb and cold whenever she thought of him.

"Captain Eclipse!"

She jumped in surprise at the sudden interruption, and then swore in pain as she fumbled with the hydrocutter she'd been using to repair the ships with, slicing her palm open.

"Kriffing tools," she muttered, wrapping a cloth around the wound before she could drip blood all over the hangar. It had been a long day, and she felt suddenly exhausted. The stinging pain shot through her like a vibroblade, causing her to stagger on her feet slightly as blood soaked her makeshift bandage. She sat down on an overturned water drum, carefully applying pressure to her cut hand. It would be easier to simply find a bacta patch, but somehow she wanted to bear the pain, just like _he_ would have.

_And I'm caught in the crossfire of my own thoughts  
__The colour of my blood is all I see on the rocks_

Juno wondered distantly who the owner of the voice was, the one who had so rudely interrupted her. She couldn't see anyone else in the hangar, and she hadn't heard the door activation panel beep as it would if someone was entering. She did still appear to be alone. _You're just hearing things now, _her internal voice chastised her. Juno shook her head, an attempt to visibly rid herself of any strange voices. She carefully peeled the cloth away from her hand to see how bad it was now the blood flow had lessened, surprised to see that the cut was smaller than she'd originally thought. _But there was so much blood_, _for such a small scratch,_ she thought, wiping her hands on her messy overalls.

_Alarms will ring for eternity  
__The waves will break every chain on me_

Her comlink pinged suddenly, bringing Juno out of her reverie. She looked at it, realising she was being summoned to the bridge. _Time to wake up, Juno._ She hurriedly tidied up her tools and jogged out of the hanger and into the nearest turbolift. Her comlink pinged again as she jabbed the door button irritably. It was urgent, then, whatever the commander wanted. At least that would give her something else to think about. Something to distract her in these troubled times. With any luck, she would forget about his face, his kiss. But for the time being, the memory was still raw, and it hurt, terribly. Juno wiped her eyes clumsily as the doors of the turbolift slid shut.

_With all the blood I lost with you  
It drowns the love I thought I knew_

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Song lyrics credit to Ellie Goulding.


	2. Fighter

**A/N: **Um. So this one's a little heavy. I suggest taking a walk, or something, afterwards. Tell me what you think! As always I own nothing. Song lyrics credit to Ellie Goulding.

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**Fighter**

_It's gonna be colder, now you've forced open the door_

Stalemate. That's what it was. A stalemate. She couldn't move on, but she couldn't leave her old life behind, either. Something was _missing._ She couldn't see what it was; her mind was too blinded by the pain, her heart ripped from her chest. She wasn't even sure if she could feel emotions anymore.

Silently, she chided herself for what felt like the millionth time for being so _weak._ Juno Eclipse, torn up over a boy? As if. A few years ago, 'as if' might have been the case. Now? Juno didn't know. Something had changed inside her, that night when she'd pulled him towards her and kissed him in the heat of the moment. She'd felt happier in that moment than she ever had in her entire life; perhaps it was that, that moment, that she had missing. For a few, brief, fleeting seconds she had felt love, and she had felt the overwhelming emotions that came with it. And when she saw the observation dome go up in flames, explosions rocking even the _Rogue Shadow_ as she swooped in to rescue the Rebels, she knew that was the end. She had only felt it once, but she knew she could never love anyone else. For a few, brief, fleeting seconds he had made her heart so full there would never be room for anyone else. Not really. Not enough to mean anything.

Perhaps that was the problem. Her heart wasn't empty; it was full. Too much so, so that it stifled her and choked her and caused all those dreams at night. When she dreamed, she only ever saw the blackness of night. At least that is how it felt when she woke; if the dreams involved _him_, and for once were not nightmares, she couldn't bring herself to remember them in the morning. There was no room for false hope, after all.

Hope could be a wonderful thing, she mused. It gave the Rebels strength to fight on, on with the cause, even against the most crushing of defeats. With hope, there was always a small place in your heart where you were free to believe that everything still, despite the statistics, turn out for the best.

Juno Eclipse was familiar with statistics, and numbers, and data, and she knew that, for her, no amount of hope was going to bring back what _she_ wanted. In that way, hope could also be a terrible thing. She was a practical, pragmatic sort of person, and she was not going to entertain the thought that _he_ might still be alive. Only fools and romantics would do that, and Juno clearly was neither.

Sometimes, though, she wished that she was. Maybe, then, she could illusion herself that everything will turn out right, in the end. But she couldn't undo the years of Imperial service, where there was no room for sentimental thought. Any lapse in objective judgement could result in death, or worse. So she knew that there was no point in hoping. But she wanted to, so badly.

Sometimes it got so bad that she wished she had never met the man at all. But where would she be then? An unhappy, cold-hearted pilot flying murderous missions for the Empire? Or dead. That was a sobering thought. Best leave it behind now, before anyone else gets hurt. This was Juno's problem, and she would just have to deal with it by herself.

_When it's just us  
You show me what it feels like to be lonely  
You show me what it feels like to be lost  
I take your hand for you to let it go_


	3. Trust

**A/N: **Going back a bit now...tell me what you think! I know they've all been a little short - this one is just over 300 words. Maybe I'll develop them further, but for now, it's just random bursts of creativity I've had recently. Song credits to Florence + the Machine.

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**Trust**

"_So I put my faith in something unknown…"_

The air was getting thicker and smoke was starting to haze his vision. Starkiller could tell that the _Empirical _was nearing the sun, and he knew that he needed to get out of there, fast. There was just one more thing…

He couldn't leave Juno behind. He just couldn't. Guilt wasn't something he was used to feeling, but he certainly felt traces of it now. Juno was innocent, after all. She wasn't a corrupt, overpaid Imperial officer that he had been instructed to take out. She hadn't done anything to deserve _this_ fate – she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. And…she was an excellent pilot. Starkiller needed a pilot.

Right?

He had reached the holding cells now, and could just about see Juno, wrists shackled, through the flickering lights and smoke. It was getting very warm. Was he sure about this – about Juno? Could he trust her? He had, after all, been instructed to sever all links with his past - if Juno ever found out about who he still served and his true mission, then he would have no choice but to kill her, and…he certainly didn't want that.

He needed to trust her. For her sake, as well as his.

"It's – really you!" The relief on her face was palpable.

There was no going back now.

"I'm leaving the Empire behind…and I need a pilot," he told her, feeling the lie burn in his throat. Starkiller pushed it to the back of his mind and helped Juno to her feet. She was weak, and could barely stand after months of captivity. Lifting her in his arms, he held her tight and ran as she leaned her head groggily on his shoulder. He tried not to get distracted by how close she was to him.

Whatever came next, at least he wouldn't be – well, he found that he appreciated her company. However much it pained him to admit it. He just had to trust that he was doing the right thing.

He had to be doing the right thing.


	4. Goodbye

**A/N: **Some of the dialogue here is from the DS version of the Force Unleashed. I was just struck by Juno's words at the end. She has so much faith, it inspired me to write this. The dialogue could be the same as the other platforms of this game, but I don't know, since I've never played them. This is just what I thought Juno might be feeling whilst Galen was on the Death Star. Enjoy!  


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**Goodbye**

"Goodbye, Juno." Starkiller – or Galen, as she had come to call him – stepped away from her, tipping himself backwards over the edge of the boarding ramp. Juno wanted to reach for him, to call out to him, to tell him to stop, but she resisted, knowing it was futile. She wanted to tell him how she felt, for him to tell _her_ how he felt, because finally, after all those long weeks and months, it was out in the open. Finally, she _knew_ that her feelings were not unrequited. The only drawback to her happiness was that the man who returned them was falling to the Death Star, and it was probable she would never see him again.

"Goodbye," she murmured out loud, steadying herself as she peered over the edge. Juno could just make out a tiny figure, slowly getting smaller as he neared the surface of the battle station. She calculated that she would have just enough time to run to the cockpit and try to bring up some schematics before he landed. If there was anything, _anything_ at all that could be done to save him and keep him alive, she would do it. She knew that now; if only she'd known a little earlier. They might have had a little more time.

"Juno?" Galen's voice crackled over the comm, "Can you tell me where the Rebels are being held? I haven't got long before I get discovered by a squadron of stormtroopers."

"Hang on," said Juno, examining the details of incoming and outgoing transmissions back in the pilot's seat, "Yes, they're being kept in the detention cells, but I think…" A new transmission had popped up on the screen, "Oh, they're all being transported to the Emperor's throne room as we speak. I'm trying to pull up the schematics of the station now…"

She broke off, her professional façade threatening to slip. "I'll guide you there, once I've got your location on the map. You just worry about the stormtroopers."

She heard a noise on the other end of the line, and thought, if she wasn't mistaken, that Galen was chuckling.

"Thanks, Juno. I trust you."

Juno closed her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. She needed to stay focused.

"If you can get off the surface and in to the interior of the battle station, I'll able to find you on the map. Judging by the design, there should be some access vents near where you landed. Use them to get inside," she told him, her voice clipped and professional. Like it always had been. Until a few moments ago, when she had put all inhibitions out of her mind and kissed him.

Galen exhaled through the comm, as if he was out of breath. Juno wondered if he was scared, or nervous, but then told herself that he was strong, and she needed to be strong for him.

"Right," he said, determinately, and Juno loved him for it, "Here I go."

Juno smiled sadly to herself. _Be a hero, or die trying,_ she thought. She _would_ get him through this.

"Save them," she told him, "I know you can."


	5. Oblivion

**A/N: **It's been a little while since I updated this, so here's another drabble. Set after the previous chapter, I suppose. Again using actual dialogue from the TFU Nintendo DS game. If you see any mistakes, please let me know - it's 10 o' clock at night here but I really wanted to publish this now! Again, reviews make my day.

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**Oblivion**

Juno watched the small dot on her screen with some apprehension, knowing that it could vanish from the screen at any time. The security detail was massive, even for an unfinished battle station. She shuddered to think what the carnage would be like once Starkiller – Galen, even – had finished with them. Eventually, she could see the dot drop down through the outer shell of the station.

"I'm in," his voice came over the comm, sounding breathless. Juno breathed a quiet sigh of relief. She reached for the comm, tapping at the navicomp.

"I've managed to get access to some partial schematics of the station," she told him, "It's still under construction, but the Emperor has already built an observation dome near the main laser." _In typical understated style, _thought Juno wryly. What better place to watch the destruction of the masses that right beside the action?

"How do I reach it?" asked Galen briskly, clearly – and with good reason – in no mood for small talk. She studied the extracts of the map she had managed to slice from the Imperial databanks, and her heart sank.

"Your options for entry are…limited," she began, wording her sentence carefully, "But you might be able to get into that - firing tube just ahead."

"Firing tube?" came Galen's reply, "Great…"

Juno tapped at some more keys. There _had_ to be a solution somewhere. "I can see the beam cycling in regular intervals. You'll want to find cover when it fires."

"Right," said Galen thoughtfully, "Thanks, Juno. I'll see you on the other side."

He signed off, leaving her sitting alone with her thoughts. _The other side._ _And where would that be, Galen?_ Juno wondered, leaning heavily back in the pilot's seat and running a hand through her tousled hair, making it even more so. Not that she cared anymore. Her days with the Empire seemed like a distant memory compared to this. This _limbo_, where she couldn't bring herself to feel anything because she didn't know what was going to happen. If he died, what then? Would she stay with the rebels, the very opposite of what she had once lived and almost died for? Or would she take the _Shadow_ and flee, far away from any matters of the heart? And if he lived – that seemed too optimistic to even comprehend.

"_Then I'll never need to live this down…"_

Bizarrely, thinking about that moment made her face flame. She had never been so bold in her life, before she had met Galen. She sighed, wishing she could do it again. Kiss him. Because she didn't want him to go. And it was highly likely – no, it was concrete, solid, not _likely – _that Juno Eclipse, cold-hearted Imperial officer-turned-pilot for a ragtag group of rebels, was in love. With the very man she had watched fall to the surface of a battle station, who in all possibilities was going to die.

She didn't want him to die. But of course, she didn't tell him this. Juno could hear the sound of heavy blasterfire coming through her comlink, and anxiously she checked to her monitor. No matter what happens now, she thought to herself, her life would certainly never be the same. All she had to do now was watch, and wait.

She turned down the volume of her comlink speakers. It was too much to bear, sometimes.


End file.
